Emerald Suspension records experimental music that integrates concepts and related source data as part of structural compositions.
Playing the Market is based on patterns found in the stock market, economic indicators, and related algorithms. The resulting tracks range from minimalist orchestral pieces to raw industrial audio arrangements. The structural components of some of the pieces in the collection are summarized below:
"Long Bond" is a requiem string solo. Notes in this piece are based on the pattern of interest rates since 1926 as represented by the yield of the 30-year Treasury bond. Higher notes equate to higher interest rates and the lower notes reflect the lower rates experienced over time.
"Irrational Exuberance / Great Depression" is a composition for piano that reflects the investor psychology that drives the stock market and the overall economy . Notes and expression changes are determined by the historical patterns of the Consumer Confidence Index. The background sound is a piece of musique concrete featuring the processed sounds of an antique ticker tape machine.
"Fibonacci's Random Walk" is algorithmic music interspersed throughout the recording. The piece is inspired by two competing theories about the pattern of stock market returns. Some theories hold that stock prices follow predictable patterns such as the Fibonacci number series, and others state that markets are efficient, with price changes following a 'random walk'. The instrumentation, pitch, and duration of notes in this composition are based on the Fibonacci number series - however, random deviations from that specific pattern are inserted throughout the performance to represent the efficient market hypothesis.
"Bulls and Bears of the World" includes percussion parts inspired by the historical price patterns of various global stock markets. The melody represents the returns of the aggregation of the world stock markets. Audio samples of bulls and bears are inserted at the appropriate points in time to represent notable global stock price increases and decreases.
"Industrial Century" is an orchestral composition based on 100 years of daily stock market data. Long, intermediate, and short-term trends in the US stock market over the course of the 20th century are represented in the piece. Changes in pitch follow the pattern of high and low returns of the stock market while the dynamics of the various parts included in the arrangement are appropriately determined by market trading 'volume'.
"The Misery Index" is an experimental recording based on the historical patterns of inflation and unemployment. The instrumentation mixes tuned synthesized noise and bowed metal to set an appropriately "dismal" tone.
"National Debt" is an audio representation of the US National Debt as experienced over more than 200 years. Audio events based on debt increases result in a light 'rain chime' effect at the beginning of the piece that progress to storm level by the end.
"Stock Options" is an experimental audio composition based on the Black-Scholes option pricing model and the Put-Call Parity Theorem.
"IPO" layers music over a collage of audio samples representing money and risk taking, including sounds of an active stock exchange trading floor and those of a casino.
For more information about these tracks, Playing the Market, and Emerald Suspension, please see:
Copyright 2006, Oscillation Productions LLC